This may be old news to many of you but I only just learned how to block unwanted callers by number. So, if this is news to you, here is a tip for Galaxy (and perhaps other) phones:

When you get an unwanted call, hang up and take a look at the call log. Touch and hold the number. You will get a list of options, including one to block all calls from that number!

I was on a call with customer service for another issue (failed SIM card) and when we were done dealing with that she asked "Is there anything else I can help you with" and I said "Yeah. How do I block unwanted calls?" She gave me the above tip.

The robot callers use the same numbers about three or four times before switching numbers. I just started using truecaller app. The app keeps an updated spam number list. You will need to open the app every couple of days to see if the phone list has been updated. Also important to note any caller not in your contact list will be available for the app company to read.

The solution I use on my iPhone is pretty simple. In iOS if you turn on Do Not Disturb mode it will block all calls, however in the DND options you can set it to allow calls from anyone in your contact list even if DND is turned on.

So all I did add everyone to my contact list that I would want to get a call from, and then keep DND enabled. Now I only get calls (and texts!) from people on my contact list. Anyone else calling or texting me, the phone stays silent (note they can still leave voice mails, but you also don't get a ding from the phone when they do).

If I'm expecting a call from someone not on my list (say a contractor coming to my house) I just turn off DND until they call, then re-enable it.

The robot callers use the same numbers about three or four times before switching numbers. I just started using truecaller app. The app keeps an updated spam number list. You will need to open the app every couple of days to see if the phone list has been updated. Also important to note any caller not in your contact list will be available for the app company to read.

Please dont do this - I hope you know that your number is published to their database.The moment I started using this app I started getting 10 times more spam calls including international calls. I uninstalled and removed/unpublished my number and slowly normalcy returned. The best way is just use the cell phone's 'Block number' option - it is available in the phone log.

On another note - Is there any way to block text/SMS which are broadcast/come from numbers which you cannot track?

Maybe I am less easily annoyed, or get more important calls from unknown numbers, but I have to answer. If I firmly say "no thank you" and then hang up the annoyance has taken less than a minute from my day.

If they are truly persistent and call back after that, they can speak to my dog for as long as they want.

This may be old news to many of you but I only just learned how to block unwanted callers by number. So, if this is news to you, here is a tip for Galaxy (and perhaps other) phones:

When you get an unwanted call, hang up and take a look at the call log. Touch and hold the number. You will get a list of options, including one to block all calls from that number!

I was on a call with customer service for another issue (failed SIM card) and when we were done dealing with that she asked "Is there anything else I can help you with" and I said "Yeah. How do I block unwanted calls?" She gave me the above tip.

It's different on my MotoG 5Plus, but I've finally did it. I use the LegalCallBlocker app but have still been meaning to activate call blocking on the phone itself as well so thanks for reminding me!

The solution I use on my iPhone is pretty simple. In iOS if you turn on Do Not Disturb mode it will block all calls, however in the DND options you can set it to allow calls from anyone in your contact list even if DND is turned on.

So all I did add everyone to my contact list that I would want to get a call from, and then keep DND enabled. Now I only get calls (and texts!) from people on my contact list. Anyone else calling or texting me, the phone stays silent (note they can still leave voice mails, but you also don't get a ding from the phone when they do).

If I'm expecting a call from someone not on my list (say a contractor coming to my house) I just turn off DND until they call, then re-enable it.

Get a phone number in a very different area code, other state. I have this set-up because I moved and then found how hard it would be to change to the new area (2FA's etc) and just left it as the old one. This was 4 years ago and has turned out to be great. All these robo callers that spoof my "area" to look like local calls now stick out like a sore thumb. The half dozen that are legit are in my contacts list and everything else is known garbage up front. Can't even tell you how much this helps in a political season.

I will keep this number forever unless I move back there, then I would get one from a randomly selected state.

The solution I use on my iPhone is pretty simple. In iOS if you turn on Do Not Disturb mode it will block all calls, however in the DND options you can set it to allow calls from anyone in your contact list even if DND is turned on.

So all I did add everyone to my contact list that I would want to get a call from, and then keep DND enabled. Now I only get calls (and texts!) from people on my contact list. Anyone else calling or texting me, the phone stays silent (note they can still leave voice mails, but you also don't get a ding from the phone when they do).

If I'm expecting a call from someone not on my list (say a contractor coming to my house) I just turn off DND until they call, then re-enable it.

I've been doing this for years and it's been wonderful.

Does the DND setting cause your text alerts to be muted?

I use this method and it did mute text alerts. To fix this, open up a contact and under Text Tone set Emergency Bypass on. I did this for each Contact that I expect to get text messages from. In my case not all that many ...<20.

Been blocking those pesky scammers and robo callers for a long time on my android phone.

I moved from MD to CO 7 years ago but kept my MD cell phone number. All of my MD friends are in my contact list. So when I see a MD area code (vs a friend's name) I know what it is. Not hard to tell I don't want to answer.

I get a lot of calls from 'MD' and if they aren't in my call list, I always block the number. DD recently got the block call tip and I showed her my blocked phone number list. She swears most of the state of Maryland is now blocked on my phone. One by one, I am getting there.

We do not need and do not have smart phones, only Tracfones. I never get phone calls on those, usually they are turned off anyway- once a while I delete all past calls. We are retired. At home on the house phone we know id and number of friendly callers and answer those calls. At night we delete all other calls, it is so simple.

We do not need and do not have smart phones, only Tracfones. I never get phone calls on those, usually they are turned off anyway- once a while I delete all past calls. We are retired. At home on the house phone we know id and number of friendly callers and answer those calls. At night we delete all other calls, it is so simple.

I'd hate to give up on lots of things my smartphone can do:

Take a picture and text it to someone.
Google something.
Read/send email.
Deposit a check.
Look at bank account.
Look at and add to appointment calendar.
Lots of other things...

The solution I use on my iPhone is pretty simple. In iOS if you turn on Do Not Disturb mode it will block all calls, however in the DND options you can set it to allow calls from anyone in your contact list even if DND is turned on.

So all I did add everyone to my contact list that I would want to get a call from, and then keep DND enabled. Now I only get calls (and texts!) from people on my contact list. Anyone else calling or texting me, the phone stays silent (note they can still leave voice mails, but you also don't get a ding from the phone when they do).

If I'm expecting a call from someone not on my list (say a contractor coming to my house) I just turn off DND until they call, then re-enable it.

I've been doing this for years and it's been wonderful.

Does the DND setting cause your text alerts to be muted?

I use this method and it did mute text alerts. To fix this, open up a contact and under Text Tone set Emergency Bypass on. I did this for each Contact that I expect to get text messages from. In my case not all that many ...<20.

Tcpalaw.com is a good resource. That is the closest to a faq. Every case is different, as far as case value, time involved, defendants approach to the case, etc. The most important thing is figuring out who is calling and getting those phone records/ recording the call. The law you want to start with is the tcpa, 47 usc 227 and focus on that.

Some cases I do myself, some I hire out. Most people on this board can do the cases themselves. It requires a little basic research, rarely public speaking and basic writing skills. If you hire it out you will pay 33-50% of your recovery in attys fees.

State laws may add more damages. South Carolina just added a Savage state law that allows for up to 5k per call. North Carolina is $500 for the first call, 1000 for the second and $5000 for the third and all subsequent calls.

How many hours of your time do you spend in each case, and are you easily able to collect the judgments?

I don't track the hours per case. I'm too busy moving on to the next one. I figure I must average $100/hr or more if I were to guess. I don't really care about touting some high hourly rate and look more at outcomes and am I realizing the max value for the case.

Judgment collection isn't that hard. I can do some myself and I'm preparing to take a guy's house and that is only going to cost $2500 in fees and costs. Most cases settle or I get an easy default judgment.

I believe that the max lawsuit allowed in small claims court per call is $500, or $1500 for intent.

The trick is getting the telemarketer to give you their details, or finding one who's operating in our own country

Incorrect on the max lawsuit. Small claims limits vary from state to state but you don't have to file in small claims. You can file in state or federal

It also isn't tricky to get a telemarketer to disclose their details, just be quiet and pretend to be interested in whatever they are selling.

I am approaching Medicare signup age and am getting bombarded with junk Medicare solicitations. Presumably they are in the US as they seem to speak good English. They don't have any kind of exception, do they? I would love to sue the bas____s.

I am approaching Medicare signup age and am getting bombarded with junk Medicare solicitations. Presumably they are in the US as they seem to speak good English. They don't have any kind of exception, do they? I would love to sue the bas____s.

If it is to a cell phone the only exception is for emergency purposes or with prior expeess written consent.

The robot callers use the same numbers about three or four times before switching numbers. I just started using truecaller app. The app keeps an updated spam number list. You will need to open the app every couple of days to see if the phone list has been updated. Also important to note any caller not in your contact list will be available for the app company to read.

Please dont do this - I hope you know that your number is published to their database.The moment I started using this app I started getting 10 times more spam calls including international calls. I uninstalled and removed/unpublished my number and slowly normalcy returned. The best way is just use the cell phone's 'Block number' option - it is available in the phone log.

On another note - Is there any way to block text/SMS which are broadcast/come from numbers which you cannot track?

I've been using the service now for over a month and I like the results. A lot of updates. I always smile when the app catches a spammer and I don't have to pickup the phone.

No incoming call gets answered unless it is an existing contact. Leave a VM and I will call back if I want to. Otherwise the number gets blocked. Easy on an iPhone. If someone gets blocked that needed to contact me, my mail carrier shows up six days a week.

Tcpalaw.com is a good resource. That is the closest to a faq. Every case is different, as far as case value, time involved, defendants approach to the case, etc. The most important thing is figuring out who is calling and getting those phone records/ recording the call. The law you want to start with is the tcpa, 47 usc 227 and focus on that.

Some cases I do myself, some I hire out. Most people on this board can do the cases themselves. It requires a little basic research, rarely public speaking and basic writing skills. If you hire it out you will pay 33-50% of your recovery in attys fees.

State laws may add more damages. South Carolina just added a Savage state law that allows for up to 5k per call. North Carolina is $500 for the first call, 1000 for the second and $5000 for the third and all subsequent calls.

How many hours of your time do you spend in each case, and are you easily able to collect the judgments?

I don't track the hours per case. I'm too busy moving on to the next one. I figure I must average $100/hr or more if I were to guess. I don't really care about touting some high hourly rate and look more at outcomes and am I realizing the max value for the case.

Judgment collection isn't that hard. I can do some myself and I'm preparing to take a guy's house and that is only going to cost $2500 in fees and costs. Most cases settle or I get an easy default judgment.

TS, this is among my many planned side gigs in early retirement starting in a couple years, should the need arise for a SH (hopefully not, but one never knows). Frankly, I'd be delighted if the scholars in the federal and state governments actually put an EFFECTIVE stop to this nonsense before then. As you've pointed out, it's easy money given the (inadequately enforced) laws already on the books. And there are plenty more of similar ilk.

Nothing in this post constitutes legal or medical advice. |
Consult your attorney or physician to verify if/how anything stated might or might not be applicable to your specific situation.

I don't know if it works on all android phones or iphones but someone with an android phone showed me a trick I did not know. That is when you get a call that rings that you do not want to answer you can just hold your phone so the screen is face down for a few seconds and the ringing will stop and the the call goes to voice mail. That works on my android phone.

Frankly, I'd be delighted if the scholars in the federal and state governments actually put an EFFECTIVE stop to this nonsense before then.

I don't remember where I heard it but I once heard a proposal for a penny tax that would be charged to anyone making a call. Adding even that minimal tax would stop the people that make millions of calls. The proposal never went anywhere.

Get a phone number in a very different area code, other state. I have this set-up because I moved and then found how hard it would be to change to the new area (2FA's etc) and just left it as the old one. This was 4 years ago and has turned out to be great. All these robo callers that spoof my "area" to look like local calls now stick out like a sore thumb. The half dozen that are legit are in my contacts list and everything else is known garbage up front. Can't even tell you how much this helps in a political season.

I will keep this number forever unless I move back there, then I would get one from a randomly selected state.

Same here. Glad we decided not to get local numbers when we moved. Not only do they typically spoof the area code but also the exchange. It's an obvious tip-off to not answer the call.

Take a picture and text it to someone.
Google something.
Read/send email.
Deposit a check.
Look at bank account.
Look at and add to appointment calendar.
Lots of other things...

I know nothing about Tracfones. Can they do those things?

Tracfone is an MVNO owned by a Mexican company, America Movil. They resell network services from AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint in prepaid packages. In the past Tracfone offered their own branded phones, with their own operating system (i.e. not iOS or Android). These were the only way to access their "network". So back then many people would just say that they "have a Tracfone" as one had to buy a Tracfone branded phone with the Tracfone operating system to access Tracfone service. Most of these Tracfone phones had very limited capabilities beyond phone & text.

But that situation has changed. For last few years Tracfone has sold both iOS and Android-based phones and allowed customers to "bring their own phone". For example, I have a Moto G5+ that I bought at Costco that is using the Verizon network via Tracfone. It is a fully capable smart phone.

I suspect many of those old Tracfones are still in use. I had one until about a year ago. likegarden may have one as well.

You don't even need to have your phone number in a different area code. When I picked my number, I picked one with an exchange I had never heard of before. I don't answer any incoming calls from that exchange, and none of them ever leaves me a voice mail.

I'm about to be sued by the IRS unless I call someone back immediately. They say they're the only folks that can keep me out of jail.

I also have been compromised by malware on my windows computer. I did talk to these folks and said that I only used Apple (true) - but I asked if the malware transformed my apple OS into Windows and they said yes!

My timeshare is about to be repossessed. Of course I don't have a timeshare.

The most bizarre are texts from instacart. They "shop for me about once every 2 weeks" but I've never used them. I'll get a text saying Christina has started shopping. Worse, apparently they can substitute items if something's out of stock so I can get many texts over the next hour saying for example that I'm getting blueberries instead of strawberries. Complicating this is that the originating phone number changes so while I block each time, they just keep coming. Apple said they never heard of this and have no idea how to stop them.

Having an Apple Watch means my wrist gets tapped every time the IRS is after me, my timeshare is in financial trouble and Christina is doing more shopping.

Next up: online ads to get rich quick by suing junk callers. Funny, I haven't thought of the guy I knew in school who made money- lots of money- from "summer jobs on ships" ads for decades. He sold lists of shipping companies.